Nepal: The government today said it was preparing to provide a life insurance cover of one million rupees to the wildlife staff working in the protected wildlife reserve and conservation areas. During the fifth meeting of the prime minister-led National Tiger Conservation Committee held at Singha Durbar this morning, the high-level panel decided to initiate necessary process to revise existing Wildlife Damage Compensation Guideline-2011 to introduce life insurance cover to the staff serving in the field of wildlife conservation. “The move aims to keep the morale of the conservation staff working in the protected areas high,” Secretary Sarad Chandra Poudel at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation said, adding that the revision of the guideline would also raise compensation for human death and injury, as well as for the damage caused to crops and other property. “The existing compensation process is highly complicated and long, while the amount given is nominal.”

According to him, the meeting also recommended establishment of Human-Wildlife Conflict Management Fund under the National Trust for Nature Conservation. “The fund will be used to manage conflict between humans and wildlife,” Poudel, who is also the member secretary for NTCC, told this daily. The meeting also mulled over characterisation of DNA for the endangered wildlife species. “Nature Conservation Trust will initiate process for charectarisation that ensures scientific DNA testing of the wild animals,” he said. The panel also highlighted the need to identify and conserve the wildlife corridor. “Increment of budget for Tiger Conservation Programme from the next fiscal year and status of wildlife conservation in protected areas were also discussed during the meeting,” Poudel said. TCP aims to increase tiger population to 250 by 2020. According to the MoFSC, stakeholders have already joined hands to draft a policy related to genetic profiling of the wildlife population. The meeting held after a year was attended by 13 members of the committee, including PM Sushil Koirala, five other ministers, chief secretary and three wildlife experts. According to the government statistics, the estimated population of big cats in Nepal is 198 in five conservation areas and buffer zones, of which 120 are in Chitwan National Park alone. The population of wild buffaloes, on the other hand, has reached 259. Country, meanwhile, marked 2013-14 as zero rhino poaching year, while seven of more than 500 one-horned rhino spotted in Nepal died a natural death during the period. (Source ; The HImalayan Times)